


Nyctophobic

by WretiaBlue



Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: Cuddles, Erza ships you!, F/M, Fluff, Gray knows, Hurt/Comfort, Natsu is protective of Reader!, Reader has a nightmare, Strawberry cake, he understands, rough pasts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-25
Updated: 2019-06-25
Packaged: 2020-05-19 08:16:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,567
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19353052
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WretiaBlue/pseuds/WretiaBlue
Summary: Nyctophobia: (n) extreme or irrational fear of night or darknessIn which (Y/N) has never been fond of the dark and Gray has never minded helping out.





	Nyctophobic

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, all! So I know that for any of you who are my Side Effects Include: Hallucinations peeps are probably upset...I'm sorry! And I'm dumb! And I'm...
> 
> In Fairy Tail mode at the moment. Enjoy? Please don't kill me?
> 
> I have a picture of what my character in this scenario looks like. I'll post that with this soon!

_ Claws. Tearing down the side of her face. Across her arm. Into her side. _

_ Agony. Bleeding into her eye, her mouth. Screaming from her leg. _

_ Laughing. In her head. Her ears. Her bones. _

_ “Try again,” It laughs. _

_ “No!” _

_ “Train, little one. You have failed.” _

_ “No! Please!” _

_ “You have a year. See you soon.” _

_ Darkness. In her hair. On her shoulders. In Her throat. _

_ Pain...Everywhere... _

_ Claws. Shredding her thigh. Opening her breast. Piercing her fingers. _

_ Laughing. “Try again,” It laughs. “You have failed.” _

_ “Please!” _

_ Laughing. “You have a year. Train, little one.” _

_ Darkness. In her wounds. Clothing her naked and mangled body. Her only friend. _

_ Pain...Everywhere. _

_ Claws… _

_ Laughing. “Try again,” It laughs. Failure… _

_ Protest. _

_ Laughing.  _

_ Darkness. _

_ Pain...Everywhere. _

_ Darkness.  _

_ Training, sweating, aching, screaming. _

_ She calls light to her body and prays for strength. To be freed. _

_ Claws. _

_ Laughing. _

_ Agony. _

_ “Try again. Next year, little one.” _

_ Darkness… _

_ Pain...Everywhere… _

_ Training...Claws...Sweating...Laughing...Aching...Agony...Screaming...Darkness...Pain. _

_ Pain… _

_ Pain… _

_ Pain… _

_ PAIN… _

_ PAIN. _

PAIN. PAIN. PAIN. PAIN. PAI--

“(Y/N)? (Y/N), wake up.”

(Y/N)’s eyes opened suddenly and she sat up startled, her heart pounding and scars pulsing with phantom pain.

A cool calming hand was on her shoulder -- the unscarred one -- and she didn’t really have time to think about it as she leaned closer to the hand’s owner.

“(Y/N)?”

It’s Gray.

(Y/N) inhaled a deep breath and it was released as a shudder.

“Um...I’m fine. Just a nightmare. A -- uh -- bad dream, really.”

Gray watched her with an expression of stone. She met his eyes briefly and saw a cloud that constantly hangs over the blue in her friend’s gaze. “What do you need?” he asked and (Y/N) was caught off guard.

A request for solitude was on her tongue by default but when she parted her lips to use it, she was silent. She has never been asked that question before. It was not the first time she has had a nightmare while working with someone else. It  _ was _ the first time she has been asked this question.

_ What do I need?  _ (Y/N) wondered. Many things. A warmer blanket -- it’s cold -- or a drink. A happier childhood? More light. She was terrified by the dark night, even with their fire still burning brightly. She had had this irrational terror ever since she'd left the dark of that place where she had been raised; ever since she had discovered what light was.

“You,” (Y/N) said before she realized she was speaking and then she blushed as it registered what she said. Gray’s face was already shadowed and warm from the light of the fire, but she thought his cheeks darkened. “I just…” she bit her lip as she tried to come up with an explanation. There wasn’t one, though, because what she needed was Gray. His presence to protect her from the dark and the nightmares. For him to look at her like he cared. Maybe even hold her. “I just need you,” she said finally. “I don’t want to be alone and…”

_ I’m scared _ , she thought, but she didn’t know if she can admit that out loud. To Gray. She remembered the way she had wanted to comfort him after seeing his expression when the team returned from Galuna. 

He had a darkness in him. A past; tortured, like hers. A sadness, grief, and responsibility he carried with him everywhere he went. It dawned on her that Gray understood. 

He knew. 

He’d known to ask her what she needed. Not to ask if she was okay. He knew she wasn’t.

“I’m scared,” she admitted aloud, looking into Gray’s eyes.

Gray looked back at her for an eternity and then a few seconds after (Y/N) spoke, he nodded. Slowly yet deliberately, he eased out of his crouch and she made room for him on her sleeping mat as he slipped to her side. (Y/N) offered him the limited warmth of her thin blanket, but he shook his head and chuckled.

“I don’t get cold,” he said and wrapped the blanket tighter around her before pulling her into his arms. After no time at all, they are settled, (Y/N)’s back against Gray’s chest as he holds her tightly in a bundle of blanket and Light mage.

(Y/N) faced the fire. Gray made sure she would and she was grateful. She wanted to see the fire and assure herself that nothing in the darkness beyond was coming for her.

One of Gray’s arms was wrapped around her shoulder, his fingers wove in and out of her teal hair. The strands closest to her neck and temples were damp from her fear, but Gray smoothed them out anyway. His other arm was tucked under and around her waist, his cool fingers tugged her blanket tighter around her.

Even as he heart pounded away at the fear of her memories, (Y/N) felt safe in Gray’s arms. Safe and comfortable and surprisingly warm, even though every time his skin brushed her ear, a cold tingle bloomed. And most surprising of all was the fact that it all just felt so  _ right. _

“If you don’t slow your breathing, you’re going to hyperventilate,” Gray’s breath tickled her ear. “Just breathe, (Y/N). I’ve got you. I’m not letting anything get near you.”

The promise -- because that’s what it was -- soothed over the tremors that she hadn’t even noticed where wracking her body. She inhaled as deeply as she could, and once again the breath left her body as a shudder. Gray tightened his hold on her and he stole one of her hands with his one that had been combing her hair. He pulled her fingers up behind her and to the crook of his neck, under his chin which rested on top of her head. 

His pulse was steady if a little quick, though by far much slower than her own. But steady. His skin was cool and he tightly held her hand to his heartbeat. “Breathe, (Y/N),” he said softly.

(Y/N) focused on the shifting of his chest behind her, trying to sync her own breaths to it. Breathing in and out and focusing on the pounding of Gray’s heart instead of worrying about the pace of her own. 

It took so much longer than she would have liked. They stayed that way while she tried to calm herself for at least half an hour, if not longer. Maybe for an eternity. But finally, her breathing evened out and she got oxygen into her lungs.

Gray gently shifted his hand from her’s on his neck to around her shoulders again, pulling her even closer to him.

The contact startled (Y/N) briefly, but she immediately found herself leaning in to him more. 

No more words were said for a while. It was just Gray holding her tight as she watched the fire and breathed and the remnants of her nightmare slowly began to trickle away. After a while, (Y/N) began to fully realize the situation she was in.

It wasn’t much of a surprise that Gray had lost his clothes. She thought, perhaps, he had been wearing them when they’d all gone to bed. But he was bare-chested now. And she was just in her pajamas -- a thin long sleeve slip dress with no bra -- and a thin blanket which were the only things separating her skin from his. His arms wrapped across her body. Everyone else was sleeping and (Y/N)’s roll was closest to the fire.

Even as her cheeks began to flush and she fought the urge to squirm a little, she found that she desperately didn’t want to be anywhere else. She didn’t want to be away from him. She didn’t want to be alone. 

“I…” her words got stuck in her throat. She didn’t know what she wanted to say first. That she was thankful. That she was sorry. That she was okay now, he could go. That she never wanted him to leave her. “I’m…”

“It’s okay,” Gray whispered. “I’m not going anywhere.”

(Y/N) swallowed stiffly. Once again, he knew. And he understood. The fear and exhaustion and relief and appreciation she held overwhelmed her and formed tears in her eyes. She bit her lip and took the hand which still rested on Gray’s neck slid up into his hair, gripping tightly. Her other hand grasped his wrist on her shoulder in an attempt to make him feel closer to her.

“(Y/N)?” he asked, a little bewildered. “What is it?”

(Y/N) clutched him even tighter. Her throat was getting stiff from trying to keep back the tears but eventually, they stole away from her eyes and she choked on a sob to keep it quiet. 

“Gray,” his name came out as a silent prayer and then he had rotated her in his arms so she could bury her face into his neck while he shushed her and slowly combed his fingers through her hair again.

It didn’t take so long at all for (Y/N) to get herself under control, but he didn’t let go of her and she didn’t want him to.

“I -- I spent fifteen years in the dark,” she whispered. “I didn’t know what light was until I was forced to learn magic. But even with magic, I was never strong enough.”

“Hey,” Gray murmured. “You don’t have to tell me. You don’t have to say anything.”

“I want to,” she replied. “I...I need to. I haven’t told anyone else but Master. Will you...Will you listen?”

“Always.”

“I taught myself. Light magic, heaven magic, anything that could allow me to see. Every year on my birthday, It came. It beat me every time. I always lost. I trained and trained. My...My scars built up. But I could never…”

She inhaled a shallow gulp of air to steady her heartbeat again. “I killed It when I was fifteen. I killed It and It was...It was m-my father. It...He w-was a take-over mage. He had a demon-soul. And it took him over. After my mother died. H-he lost control when she died giving birth to me. I grew up in darkness and then when I could finally see, I had killed him. But the darkness doesn’t ever go away.

“When I first saw Master, I...actually wondered why he didn’t have scars. I did. Do. Dad had them. But none of you really…” she unburied her face from Gray’s skin the slightest amount and wiggled her right hand into view. She was missing a sliver of her middle finger; a little jagged gap right where her nail should’ve been. And the rest of the skin was all raised lumps and clusters of gnarled pale flesh that had never healed as it should’ve. (Y/N) chuckled ruefully, softly. “And I stayed with Cana and then she turned out the lights and I could’ve sworn I woke the whole town screaming.”

Gray took a calm breath and tucked her head back under his chin. “You’re afraid of the dark,” he stated coolly. 

“Yes,” (Y/N) said. 

“So what?” Gray asked, once again catching (Y/N) off guard. “So what if you’re afraid of the dark? We all have something we’re afraid of, (Y/N). Erza doesn’t ever want to be caged again. Natsu can’t stand his friends getting hurt, and I’m afraid of losing another family. Lucy doesn’t want to be alone. Wendy always needs a home. Elfman doesn’t want to be as weak as he was when we thought Lisanna had died. Laxus would rather die than fail everyone. Gramps doesn’t want anyone to touch his children. 

“We’re all afraid, (Y/N),” he repeated. He gently tugged her head back by her hair so he could look at her. “That doesn’t make you weak. It doesn’t make you worthless or helpless. It just makes you human.”

(Y/N) was rendered speechless and teary-eyed once again as their gazes met. The fire lit up his dark eyes. She saw the sadness there. The storm cloud. But more than that, she saw hope and faith and love. 

“Do you understand?”

(Y/N) sniffed. Then she nodded, slowly.

Gray nodded himself. “Good. Now go to sleep, we still have a job to do tomorrow.”

(Y/N) blinked up at him owlishly and he smiled softly. “I’m not going anywhere. Relax, (Y/N). I got you.”

(Y/N) believed him. With a heavy blush on her cheeks, she burrowed back into his cool embrace -- still somehow warmer than the crack of the fire at her back. And she found that she didn’t care whether or not she could see into the darkness. Because Gray had her. And he wasn’t going to leave. 

She fell asleep rapidly to the snap of flames and Gray’s steady heartbeat, slipping into sweet dreams to the rhythm of her new favorite sound.

  
  


“Ummm…” Lucy couldn’t keep her eyes off of the sight in front of her. “Should we…?”

Erza firmly shook her head with a smug and delighted smile on her face. “Of course not. Let’s leave them be for a while longer. No need to frighten them. Besides, Mira owes me a strawberry cake now.”

“You...You bet on this!” Lucy exclaimed.

“Shhh!” Happy and Erza and Wendy exclaimed at once. 

Just beside the dying embers of the fire, Gray and (Y/N) laid entangled with each other, (Y/N)’s blanket draped uselessly over her calves while she was snuggled up in a ball inside Gray’s embrace. They both breathed in perfect synch. Occasionally, Gray dug his nose deeper into her hair or (Y/N) grasped his shoulder more tightly, but their rhythm never wavered.

“Sorry,” Lucy rubbed the back of her head. “Do you...Do you bet on these things a lot?”

Erza’s smirk grew sinister.

Lucy shrunk back with a whimper. “What the heck does that mean?”

Erza didn’t grace her with an answer. Instead, she turned away from the scene and continued to pack up her cart of supplies. 

But the peace of the morning only lasted one more minute before Natsu woke up with a leap to his feet and screamed, “ALRIGHT! I’M READY TO FIGHT STUFF, LET’S GO! WAKE UP ICEBL-- What the heck is Gray doing with (Y/N)?”

The two in question stirred, now, from Natsu’s ruckus while Happy gleefully declared, “He  _ liiiiiiiiikes _ her.”

Before Gray or (Y/N) knew what hit them, Natsu leapt onto them. “Hey, you freaking perv, get off (Y/N)! Put some clothes on, leave her alone! There’s a kid here, you loser, what do you think you’re doing?”

Gray was up in an instant arguing right back at Natsu while (Y/N) rose and began screaming too.

“They just woke up and they’re already at each others’ throats?” Lucy muttered with a dejected sigh.

“I’m surprised you’re even surprised at this point,” Happy said around a mouth of fish.

“Uh...I’m going to go find Carla,” Wendy muttered then speedily slipped away.

Broken from her previous neutrality, Erza leaped into action to break up the fight and then everyone was shouting and punching and then magic began to form and…

Lucy sighed but had to smile a little, still. “Just another day as a member of the Fairy Tail Guild.”

“Aye!”


End file.
